All photos: SophieR

GUIDEBOOKS MISS so much about a destination because, like you, guidebook writers are travelers, just passing through. So a conversation with a local can be worth an entire chapter of your Lonely Planet — if not the whole thing.

If Oslo is your destination, Anne-Sophie Redisch is your local. Known within the Matador community as SophieR, she’s a pro at laying out, in her words:

all the great things in the world’s most expensive city that are cheap and even free.

She did so recently in the popular Trips post What NOT to Do in Norway, helping steer visitors around amateur tourist mistakes. And then there are her insightful Matador personal blogs, including My hometown in 500 words*, a narrative examination of a nude sculpture park in Oslo.

• * This is an assignment prompt from Matador’s travel writing course, MatadorU.

Sophie blogs at Sophie’s World, and she’s also NileGuide’s Oslo expert.

Troll’s Ladder, Norway

Here’s some more about Sophie, taken from her Matador profile:

Favorite places I’ve been: Nepal, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Egypt, Mozambique, Oman, Jordan, The Azores, Ireland, Wales, Cuba and China’s Fujian province, Svalbard
I’m fired up on: Exploring new lands. There’s nothing quite like hopping off a train in an unknown city, preferably early in the morning, watching it wake up.
Why I travel: Searching for … something. Not sure what. I’ve been to more than 100 countries, and I still don’t know what I’m searching for. Differences, maybe? But somehow, the more I see, the more people I meet, the most striking discovery is how alike we all are.

Even if you’re not headed to Scandinavia, Sophie might be a good resource for you. She often travels with her two young daughters and is happy to offer advice on Travel with Kids. Visit her profile to connect.

Community Connection

Are you an expert on a particular slice of Earth? Join the Matador community, and then send me an email at hal@matadornetwork.com to tell me why you deserve the title of Matador destination expert.